Taylor under fire for past mistakes

Should Scotland fail to qualify for next summer's World Cup finals - and most bookmakers will offer generous odds against such a likelihood - then David Taylor, the SFA's chief executive, will find his position under greater scrutiny than ever.

His vainglorious decision to persevere with Berti Vogts as national coach, rather than admit that the German he appointed in 2002 was a complete failure, meant that the good ship Scotland had been holed below the waterline by the time Walter Smith took over from him 10 months ago.

The former Rangers and Everton manager has performed wonders in restoring confidence and optimism, not only to his players (the same ones so abjectly misused by Vogts) but to an increasingly disheartened support.

However, the five points surrendered in home matches against Slovenia and Norway, added to the two tossed away in Moldova, ensured that Smith and his players had been severely hamstrung by the combination of Vogts' incompetence and Taylor's perverse prevarication.

Related Articles

Certainly, the reaction of the Scotland players after the 1-1 draw with Italy testified to the transformation wrought by Smith.

Everton defender David Weir found the Vogts regime so dispiriting that he retired from international football in 2002, but he has returned to the fold and was outstanding in shutting out Christian Vieri on Saturday.

"I'm enjoying every minute of it," said the Everton defender. "The games are very exciting, we believe we have a chance and that we're working towards something. That's how it should be.

"You can feel the atmosphere and sense that the fans believe in us a little bit now. That's a nice feeling to have when playing for your country.

"Even if the results and performances hadn't been as good as they have been, I wouldn't have regretted coming back because I'm enjoying my football and I like working for Walter."

Captain Barry Ferguson agreed: "I've definitely seen signs under Walter that we're playing better as a team and with a system that everyone understands.''

It was a view shared by Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher, who turned in his most mature performance for the national side against the Italians.

"You can see the progress we are making under Walter," he said. "If we can add a little bit of quality to our work-rate and spirit, when it comes to retaining the ball and creating chances, then there's a chance that this group of players can go far."

Southampton's Nigel Quashie added his voice to the chorus of approval: "We' ve developed and progressed so quickly under Walter Smith and there are really good signs for the future."

Unfortunately, barring a happy confluence of unlikely results, the undoubted improvement in Scotland's fortunes will not now bear fruit at a World Cup finals until 2010, by which time Weir will be 40 and Ferguson and Quashie 32.

In the meantime, they travel to Oslo hoping for a miracle. Hope, at least, is no longer in short supply.

Smith must budget for the absence of Christian Dailly, whose caution rules him out, although the return of Steven Pressley after suspension provides some consolation. "I have a fair idea how I want to play this one but we have to think about the loss of Dailly," said Smith.

However, Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon, whose excellence is helping the Tartan Army forget the Rab Douglas era, refuses to concede that a play-off place is beyond the Scots.

"The atmosphere in the dressing room was quiet afterwards," he said. "Maybe a lot of people were thinking about what might have been and the fact we were just 15 minutes away from making history.

"It's a good result but maybe, in the context of the group, not quite what we were looking for. We now need to go to Norway looking to win, but at least we're still in there fighting."

Indeed. Yet if Taylor - whose lack of leadership and fear of confrontation has added to the sum of Scottish football's problems in recent years - had moved earlier to rectify his catastrophic error, Smith and his team might have had more than a fighting chance.